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A senior official said that the CBI might portray the transfer as routine, but the timing had left ample scope for the people to speculate.

Updated: Aug 23, 2018 13:32:36

By Avinash Kumar

Officials conduct a raid at a property of Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal in Patna.
(PTI Photo)

The sudden transfer of Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) superintendent of police here, in the midst of the ongoing probe into the sexual abuse of minor girls at the Muzaffarpur shelter home and days before he was due to submit a report to the high court, has drawn flak from opposition leaders and officials.

JP Mishra, who was transferred to Patna barely two months ago, was transferred on Tuesday evening with immediate effect and posted as superintendent of police in the office of deputy inspector general of police, Patna range. Devendra Singh, SP, CBI (Anti-Corruption Bureau, Lucknow) has been given the additional charge held by Mishra.

A CBI spokesperson said that Mishra had been transferred to Patna from Jammu and Kashmir on health grounds and has been “given rest for some time”. “Devendra Singh had earlier stayed in Patna and hence he has been given the charge. Mishra will continue to cooperate with Singh,” he said.

With Mishra about to submit the action taken report (ATR) in the Patna high court by Thursday, opposition attacked the shifting

A senior official said that the CBI had interrogated UNICEF counsellor Sunil Kumar Jha in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case and next would have been those to whom Jha reported. “The CBI was moving scientifically in the case. Many bigwigs who allowed rules to be ignored to give the likes of Brajesh Thakur free run would have come in the probe’s ambit,” he added.

The official said that the CBI might portray the transfer as routine, but the timing had left ample scope for the people to speculate. “The CBI was looking into the financial and other related aspects to get to the genesis of the entire episode,” he added.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha said if this was a routine transfer, the definition and meaning of word ‘routine’ should be changed.

Another senior leader said that Mishra was zeroing in on the political and bureaucratic connections of Thakur, which was perhaps not acceptable. “Mishra was going about his job seriously and wasted no time in interrogating former minister Manju Verma and her husband Chandrashekhar Verma. Perhaps, before he could move further ahead, his wings were clipped,” he added.

An FIR was lodged against former social welfare minister Verma and her husband under the Arms Act after the CBI raids at various locations across the state, including the residences of the former minister in Patna and Begusarai, led to seizure of 50 cartridges.